Ukraine peace talks without Russian participation ‘ridiculous,’ Kremlin reiterates

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) - Russia on Monday reiterated that peace talks to end the Ukraine war without Moscow’s participation are “frivolous and ridiculous."

“We have repeatedly said that this is a strange format, to say the least, because some peace plans are being discussed without the participation of Russia, which in itself is frivolous and even ridiculous,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow, commenting on a peace summit to be held in Switzerland later this year.

Peskov said there were no contacts between the two countries with regard to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s peace formula, which the Switzerland meet will discuss.

The Kremlin's comments came a day after Andriy Yermak, the head of Ukraine’s presidential office, said Moscow could be invited to discuss an end to Moscow's two-year-old war.

Zelenskyy's 10-point peace formula, first laid out at the November 2022 summit of G20 in Indonesia, calls for restoring Ukraine's territorial integrity and a total withdrawal of Russian troops.